B.C. community of Hudson's Hope evacuated as wildfire nears

The Mount McAllister fire, burning 56 kilometres west of Chetwynd, has grown to an estimated 20,000 hectares, up from around 5,000 hectares in size on Tuesday.Handout
/ B.C. Wildfire Management Branch

The Mount McAllister fire, burning 56 kilometres west of Chetwynd, has grown to an estimated 20,000 hectares, up from around 5,000 hectares in size on Tuesday.Handout
/ B.C. Wildfire Management Branch

The Mount McAllister fire, burning 56 kilometres west of Chetwynd, has grown to an estimated 20,000 hectares, up from around 5,000 hectares in size on Tuesday.Handout
/ B.C. Wildfire Management Branch

The Maka-Murray fire, west of Murray Lake is believed to have been caused by lightning on Monday and is now estimated to be about 80 hectares.Handout
/ B.C. Wildfire Management Branch

Frefighters are beginning to get a handle on the Red Creek fire, burning 61 kilometres southeast of Tumbler Ridge. The blaze is now mapped at just over 6,000 hectares from more than 10,000 earlier this week and firefighters say it is now 35 per cent contained.Handout
/ B.C. Wildfire Management Branch

Here are some spectacular photos of the Banff forest fires on Hwy 11 and Hwy 93 taken on July 8th.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

The Spreading Creek Wildfire in Banff National Park. On Saturday July 12, 2014. Both Highway 93N (Icefields Parkway) between Waterfowl Lakes Campground and Rampart Creek and HWY 11 were closed. (Courtesy Parks Canada/Calgary Herald) For City story by Colette DerworizSupplied
/ Parks Canada

Here are some spectacular photos of the Banff forest fires on Hwy 11 and Hwy 93 taken on July 8th.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

A tree candles as Parks Canada works at containing a fire that borders the North Saskatchewan River on July 15, 2014 in Banff National Park.Christina Ryan
/ Calgary Herald

Here are some spectacular photos of the Banff forest fires on Hwy 11 and Hwy 93 taken on July 8th.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

Here are some spectacular photos of the Banff forest fires on Hwy 11 and Hwy 93 taken on July 8th.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

Here are some spectacular photos of the Banff forest fires on Hwy 11 and Hwy 93 taken on July 8th.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

Firefighters battled by air and by ground a brush fire on Mount Boucherie, located in the heart of West Kelowna, Tuesday.Julianna Hayes
/ Twitter

Firefighters battled by air and by ground a brush fire on Mount Boucherie, located in the heart of West Kelowna, Tuesday.Laurent Martel
/ Twitter

Smoke is seen billowing from a wildfire in Banff.@ABGovWildfire
/ Twitter

Smoke rises from the area of a wildfire near Entiat, Wash., Friday, July 11, 2014. Several hundred firefighters worked Friday to contain the fire that has burned grass and brush across nearly 30 square miles in central Washington. (AP Photo/Rachel La Corte)

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VANCOUVER — Sirens sounded in the northeastern British Columbia town of Hudson's Hope, as its 1,150 residents were ordered to flee from what officials called a blaze too extreme for firefighters to battle on the ground.

The Mount McAllister wildfire was caused by a lightning strike on Sunday, has mushroomed to 20,000 hectares, or 200 square kilometres, and continues to grow.

Citing a need to "ensure the protection of human life," the District of Hudson's Hope issued an evacuation order Wednesday, telling residents to leave the area immediately and go to an emergency centre in Fort St. John, about 90 kilometres away.

Authorities also ordered BC Hydro employees to evacuate a pair of nearby hydroelectric dams. About 200 staff and contractors at the GM Shrum and Peace Canyon generating stations fled their posts after the order, said Simi Heer, a spokeswoman at BC Hydro.

GM Shrum at the WAC Bennett dam is the province’s largest hydroelectric station, and the dams generate about 30 per cent of BC Hydro’s overall capacity.

"These evacuations will not impact our ability to provide power to the province, as the units at both generating stations can be operated remotely. Also, we can shift more of the load to our generating stations on the Columbia River, including Mica and Revelstoke, if required,” said Heer.

Police and emergency officials went door-to-door to Hudson’s Hope homes and businesses telling people to leave. Local resident Scott Linley, the co-owner of Legacy Village Market, said the smell of smoke and quarter-inch chunks of ash have filled the sky for the past two days, and early Wednesday afternoon firefighters told him to close down the store and leave town.

Linley said he can't see the fire, even at night, because the sun doesn't set until late in the northern community, but the ash and smoke are adding an interesting hue to the sky's colour.

"Right now everything's an amber colour because of the haze in the air," he said. "You know the sunlight? What do they call it, sequoia? When you take a picture with that smoky look? That's what we're looking at for colour."

Linley said he heard the sound of sirens in the town, but he won't leave until he has no other choice.

"I'm reluctant to leave the store for obvious reasons, and so I'm going to be sticking around until I have to go. I appreciate there's an evacuation order but I've got to look after my property."

Tom Matus, the chief administrative officer and emergency coordinator for Hudson’s Hope, said police remained in town, but the vast majority of residents had left by the early evening.

“The town is empty,” he said.

Jillian Kelsh of the Wildfire Management Branch said an incident management team, which is a group of specialized personnel who help co-ordinate the battle, is setting up in the nearby community of Chetwynd.

"We don't actually have firefighters on the ground," she said. "The fire behaviour is actually too extreme to safely put firefighters on the ground and do any sort of direct suppression at this time."

Kelsh said when fires become too dangerous to fight directly, personnel battle the flames indirectly. She said firefighters move ahead of the flames and burn off trees, debris and other foliage to create fuel-free areas. When the advancing fire hits those areas, it loses its momentum, she said.

"It's definitely one of the larger fires that we've got going on," she said. "And definitely with communities in the vicinity in an evacuation order, and an entire community, that it's definitely one of the worst fires in B.C. at this time."

Premier Christy Clark tweeted Wednesday that B.C. has had the driest conditions since 1958 and that the province is spending $3.5 million a day to fight the fires.

"Half are human caused. Be careful."

Also on Wednesday, the B.C. Wildfire Management Branch asked for more personnel from other provinces to help with the elevated fire risk.

Candace Green, who lives in Fort St. John, a 45-minute drive from Hudson's Hope, said her community is exceptionally smoky.

"There's ash raining from the sky, which is kind of apocalyptic," she said. "It's been muggy and smoky and ashy. The sun looks like a little red dot."

"I've been here 20 years and I've never seen this," Green said. "It seems like everything's on fire," she said, adding smoke from a blaze in Banff is also affecting the community.

Green said residents aren't worried about a fire in their community but people are talking about offering up their homes to anyone who's been forced to leave nearby communities.

Janey Morgan of MacKenzie, B.C., said two fires are burning close to the area but smoke and ash seem to be coming from a fire in Chetwynd, about a two-hour drive north.

"In all the years I've lived here we haven't seen the stuff that's coming," she said, adding she's been in the community since 1976.

Morgan said residents are concerned about conditions getting worse.

"We're supposed to be getting lightning, and we have so much pine-beetle wood, dead wood."

Residents are grateful for firefighters who are working hard to keep them safe, Green said.

"I think people are aware of what might happen but the fire guys are working and we're praising them, going on Facebook and saying,'Thank you, thank you."'

"Right now, I understand they're winning the battle but at the same time it is scary. Look what happened in Slave Lake," she said of the Alberta community, one third of which was destroyed by a wildfire in 2011.

Navi Saini of the Wildfire Management Branch said there are currently 123 fires burning in the province, most of them in the Coastal, Kamloops and Prince George fire regions.

Meantime, an evacuation alert has been issued for up to 35 properties near Murray Lake, southwest of Merritt in the Thompson-Nicola region. The Maka-Murray fire, west of Murray Lake is believed to have been caused by lightning on Monday and is now estimated to be about 80 hectares.

Firefighters are struggling to contain a fire at Apex Mountain, west of Penticton. The fire started Tuesday afternoon and by Wednesday afternoon it had grown to 60 hectares from 15 hectares.

Fire information officer Kayla Pepper says officials suspect it was caused by human activity. Thirteen firefighters worked overnight and more resources are set to be deployed later Wednesday. Although the blaze is spreading, it is not threatening any homes or structures.

The Wildfire Management Branch reports there are a few dozen fires larger than 10 hectares that are still burning in the province or in the mop-up stages.

Meanwhile firefighters are beginning to get a handle on the Red Creek fire, burning 61 kilometres southeast of Tumbler Ridge. The blaze is now mapped at just over 6,000 hectares from more than 10,000 earlier this week and firefighters say it is now 35 per cent contained.

An evacuation order remains in effect, however, for a nearby oil and gas camp. About 200 people are affected by that order.

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